TEAcher resources
for our 2017 Programs

  

Here is a list of resources to help your students get the most from their Fort visit.

1. Booklet-"There's a Redcoat in my Backyard!" contains history and activities to help prepare your students for their Fort visit. The booklet is available here-https://www.oldfortniagara.org/documents/Redcoat%20Booklet.pdf

2. Video- The Narrative of Jasper Parrish on YouTube. Eleven-year-old Jasper Parrish was captured by a Munsee raiding party on July 5, 1778. Jasper and his father were traveling to Lackawaxen on the upper Delaware River to try to warn settlers of Native attacks. They were taken to Cookhouse (present Deposit, NY) where they remained for several months. At Cookhouse, Jasper's father was taken from him and sent to Fort Niagara. In October, Jasper's captors took him to Chemung. Here he was sold to a family of Delawares who moved to the Tioga River. During the winter of 1778/79 Jasper and his Delaware family suffered from shortages of food. He ate the same food as his Native captors: venison, wolf, dog, fox, muskrat and some wild fowl. With warmer weather Jasper accompanied his Native family hunting, fishing and gathering nuts. He learned the Delaware language. With the approach of General Sullivan's army in August 1779, Native warriors, Butlers Rangers and a few men from the British 8th Regiment of Foot tried to stop the Americans at Newtown (near Elmira, NY). Jasper was sent to Painted Post, NY, along with the women and baggage. The Americans won the battle of Newtown and forced the Iroquois and their British allies to retreat. Many, including Jasper, fled to Fort Niagara. That fall, Jasper lived outside Fort Niagara with the Delaware. After about six weeks, his captor took him inside the Fort to sell him, but no one was buying. Finally, a "large, fine, portly looking Mohawk Indian by the name of Captain David Hill" bought him for $20. Hill lived in a log house below the Fort. (By the late 18th Century, the transition from extended family longhouses to the single-family log house was nearly complete.) Hill took Jasper home and treated him with kindness during the five years they lived together and formally adopted Jasper into his family in 1780, during a council held at Fort Niagara. Jasper picked up the Mohawk language as he remained with the Hill family until November of 1784, at which point he returned home to see his family. Having been exposed to several indigenous languages, Jasper continued to work as a translator for the Haudenosaunee and the United States government and was involved with the Pickering (Canandaigua) Treaty of 1794. This Treaty established peace and friendship between the United States and the Haudenosaunee and affirmed the land rights of the Haudenosaunee in New York State. You can also watch an exciting reenactment of this brave young boy's story at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb3MZ5peSF4

Children's Books About the Revolution